How To Fix Eagles: What To Do About Carson Wentz & Jalen Hurts, GM & Coaching Staff Problems

The Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team to enter Week 17 without a chance to make the playoffs. Three years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, they rank among the worst teams in the entire league and are guaranteed more losses than any season since 2012, resulting in sacking. by longtime coach Andy Reid. Needless to say, they need help.

What exactly should they be doing to right the ship during a crucial offseason? We’ve done our best to come up with a five-step solution:

1. Reduce the power of GM Howie Roseman over the staff

The Eagles’ problems can be attributed mostly to their poor foundation, which has clearly eroded since the Super Bowl. It’s on Roseman. While owner Jeffrey Lurie has reason to find a new GM, his longtime loyalty to Howie makes it unlikely. The most plausible option is therefore to reduce the power of the GM over the staff. Maybe that means a “promotion” to other functions in the vein of his relegation to the Chip Kelly era. Maybe that means forcing the last word on the list into the hands of another leader.

The only thing Lurie can’t do is sit on her hands. The coach and QB are also responsible for the failures of 2020 (we’ll get to that soon), but nothing should concern this organization more than the fact that Roseman, its main decision maker, has:

• Supported the Eagles in one of the darkest financial corners of the NFL,
• Repeated match-day lineups with older, injured and unreliable starters, especially at places critical to QB, and
• Failure to write more than a few obvious basics since returning to power in 2016

Roseman deserves all the credit in the world for resurrecting the Eagles after Chip Kelly and assembling championship depth, but since then he has fallen short of his short and long term promises. If your GM isn’t writing well, hitting veterans, and has overseen three straight years of decline, he either needs help or needs to be replaced.

2. Replace Doug Pederson with another offensive head coach

It is not a decision that you take lightly. Pederson is not a bad coach. At his best, he has punctuated the NFL with bold decisions and tight deadlines. His staging of Bill Belichick to present Philly with its first Lombardi Trophy will live on forever in the tradition of the Eagles. And, perhaps more importantly, his players never gave up on him. But just like Nick Foles, the QB who helped him win this Lombardi but never hosted a long-term gig in Philly, Pederson’s peak accomplishments shouldn’t guarantee he’s part of the future. of the current Eagles.

If Lurie was only shooting one of Doug or Howie, there’s strong reason to think Roseman deserves the ax. But since Pederson’s magical 13-3 run in 2017, the Eagles have gone 22-24-1. They have gradually worsened each year since the championship. This season, in a historically bad division, his The team – with their lack of discipline on the pitch, with their cruel lack of creativity, with their unprecedented QB regression, with their apparent lack of weekly preparation for crucial competitions – were the first to be eliminated. Worse yet, his “specialty,” offense, has grown from being sluggish to now one of the most listless and uncreative in the entire NFL. Even Jalen Hurts’ mobility couldn’t mask that against a porous Cowboys defense in Week 16.

Pederson may very well have the support of the players, and he may be able to point out his resume and even be instantly successful in other job. But if he couldn’t find answers in this one-season sinking, why should Lurie trust him to lead the team to new territory? If he couldn’t identify the appropriate offensive assistants until now, why would he suddenly unearth some innovative witchcraft in 2021? It’s not that Doug is incapable of a turnaround; it’s just hard to believe, after three years of decline, that its turnaround will happen in philadelphia.

This helps to keep the pool of potential offensive head coach substitutes deep. And it’s not just names. Most of them are guys who have already caught the Eagles’ interest or who are widely regarded as some of the best in their jobs. We’ve limited the potential candidates, listed below, almost exclusively to offensive minds, as Lurie has long preferred offensive-oriented leaders (and, frankly, he’s smart at doing it). *

• Brian Daboll, Bills OC
• Mike Kafka, Chiefs QBs Coach / Passing Coordinator
• Arthur Smith, OC Titans
• Joe Brady, Panthers OC
• Graham Harrell, USC OC / QBs coach
• Duce Staley, coach / assistant head coach of the RB Eagles
• Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma HC
• Luke Getsy, Packers QBs Coach / Passing Coordinator
• Leslie Frazier, Bills DC / Assistant Head Coach

* = The only defensive coach exception here has to do with the Eagles, Frazier passing 1999-2002 under Lurie and Andy Reid at Philly. It could make sense in the event the team want to preserve Pederson’s friendly approach while still getting an “apparent heir” type on the offensive side of the ball.

3. Keep Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts with an eye towards 2022

It’s certainly not impossible to say the Eagles should trade Wentz. After 2020, in which he not only regressed, but looked damn close broken – devoid of confidence and any ability to rise above his mercurial environment – he might in fact benefit from a change of scenery. For crying out loud, the guy fought after two serious injuries, won a locker room that saw his replacement beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, and now has to overcome both his own shocking fall and a promising challenger. in Hurts. It may be in the best interests of both sides to cut the cord entirely – to recognize the memories and what might have been, and then move his $ 128 million deal elsewhere.

If the Eagles wisely breathe new life into their staff, the best bet is to keep Wentz. That doesn’t necessarily mean crowning him the undisputed starter of 2021. It doesn’t mean making a long-term commitment to him. It means giving new leaders the chance to see this really left your QB franchise before selling it when its value is at an all-time low – and for minimal savings, nothing less.

Hurts can be a star in the making or just a talented replacement. Four departures are not enough to determine it. Wentz, on the other hand, was downright bad in 2020 but still good, if not excellent, from 2017 to 19 – a stretch that included 81 touchdowns, 21 interceptions, a 98.3 QB rating and a 25-15 record. The recency bias obscures this reality. Unless the Eagles and / or their new coach are sold 100% to Hurts or a deliberate low in 2021 (don’t count on it), the idea of ​​saving $ 800,000 – while absorbing the cap of 33, $ 8million from Wentz – to write off a 28-year-old’s chances of making it back into the top 12 seem … far from ideal. Especially when there is no more important position to take than the QB.

If the Eagles come in or are on the verge of a major overhaul, what’s the downside to letting the No.11 be part of the mix? Better yet, is the right one to cut the cord outweigh the potential consequences? Ideally, Wentz gets an offseason to catch his breath, regain confidence and work with reshaped staff, return to the playoff competition with healthier roster in 2021, and then reload with bigger additions in 2022. Worst case scenario cases neither Wentz nor Hurts come out and the Eagles are bad again in 2021, but then you have a better chance of infusing youth – and maybe better QB hope – in 2022.

4. Sell as many veterans as possible

Auctioning as many vets as possible might seem counterintuitive if you’re hoping for a quick rebound in 2021, but it really isn’t. How many current Eagles players, after all, are absolutely essential to a playoff series? Lane Johnson? Brandon Graham? This team has seen double-digit losses in 2020 because the current contingent is devoid of talent, not overwhelmed. It’s hard for some, the Eagles included in recent years, to admit that their unique championship roster is riddled with unreliable old pieces (an indictment of Howie once again), but it’s true. That’s why the Eagles need to embrace an addition-subtraction mentality in 2021.

They don’t have a choice either, given they are set to hit around $ 70 million against the 2021 salary cap. A tan absolute minimum, all the following movements must be taken into account:

Potential cuts:

Potential extensions / restructuring:

Potential trades:

That doesn’t include saying goodbye to most, if not all, of the team’s impending unrestricted free agents – a squad of 13 that includes notables like Jason Peters, Jalen Mills, Richard Rodgers and Nickell Robey-Coleman.

5. Store assets during the 2021 project

The Eagles will have their best pick in the first-round draft since 2016, when they traded to No.2 overall to select Wentz. They’ll be in the top five, with a chance of ranking as high as # 3. Typically, that means taking a long, careful look at the best QB leads, because it’s not every year that you get such a sharp blow at this position. And don’t be fooled; if the Eagles really like a handy QB, they have to consider it. But here’s the biggest issue they have to weigh: This team needs a lot more than the QB’s long-term hope. With Wentz and Hurts in tow, Philly has every reason to sell its early breeding and storage assets.

In 2018, just to come back from No.3 to No.6 in the first round, the Colts got three more second-round players from the Jets. If the Eagles can strike a deal with a franchise that needs QB (and know they’ll have their own chance on a top guy in 2022, if they stumble again in 2021), they could give themselves a chance. instant to fill other holes. lineup, whether it’s offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker, cornerback or safety.

Well, young talent is what the Eagles need more than anything. Auctioning premium picks to collect even more would be very useful, regardless of which type is throwing the passes and which type is calling the games in 2021.